Faculty of Arts debate:

Professor Lorna Hardwick chairs
The Great Debate: Greek drama on the modern stage – Is it Greek?

On the modern stage Greek drama has become a way of confronting our present anxieties – Is Antigone a freedom fighter? Can Hecuba stand for the victims of war in Iraq? Michael Billington, theatre critic of The Guardian, has claimed that ancient Greek drama always resurfaces at time of crisis.

Do these modern translations and adaptations hijack Greek drama for modern politics? Or do they build bridges across time, place and language and bring ancient drama to the centre of contemporary concerns? What are the challenges for translators and directors in reworking Greek material for modern audiences? And what do modern audiences expect when they buy tickets for Greek drama?

Dr Nick Lowe (Royal Holloway College, University of London), Academic, Film Buff, Polymath will introduce the debate with contributions from John Taylor (director of Theatre Odyssey, teacher and director-designate of the next Bradfield College Greek play), Helen Eastman, Director of Floodtide Company (and leader of the Greek drama performance workshop held at OUMK in 2004) and Judith Affleck (editor of the new Cambridge University Press series of Greek Plays in Translation).

Chairing the debate will be Lorna Hardwick, Professor of Classical Studies at the Open University and Director of the Reception of Classical Texts Project.

Contributions to the debate from the floor will be encouraged and there will be a display of posters and photographs from recent performances of Greek plays.

Click on the images to see larger photographs with captions.

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